Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...22

Jesus in the Wilderness redeems the failure of Adam/Eve. Jesus in the Wilderness activates the lessons the Nation of Israel failed to learn. Jesus in the Wilderness shows how to love the Father and not the world. Jesus in the Wilderness confirms the Father's confession of His identity.

What about His mission as Messiah? What does the Anointed One do? How best can He reach His goal? These and other questions about Messiah-ship form our next series of reflections.

When tempted to turn stone into bread, Jesus decided how He would use of His power to serve the hurting world. Later indeed He would produce loaves of bread in mass quantity to feed the hungry and hurting. His heart moved Him to feed the people He characterized as "sheep without a shepherd." Twice 5000 men (plus women and children) were fed. Once 4000 men (again, plus women and children) were fed. All by the miraculous power of Jesus, the Messiah.

But here in the wilderness the temptation tries to short-cut the Father's plan to serve the whole human languishing in the results of First Parents' rebellion. The Anointed One would "preach good news to the poor." Just feeding them will bring you followers, the tempter seems to imply. But Jesus mission to revolutionize the world would focus not on the crowds, but the twelve. He would invest Himself, perform the majority of His miracles in the presence of His little band of believers rather than the masses. In resisting the temptation to turn stone to bread, Jesus in part chooses the method for completing His Father-given mission.

 Here we see that our decisions impact not just our personal relationship with God, but also how we interact with others. The new creation, the new people of God would have been side-tracked from all that the Trinity planned and will if Jesus only offered physical bread. People need the sustaining Word of God, the owners manual for use of life and liberty. To paraphrase a cliche, "Giving us bread would have fed us for a day. Giving us the Word's guidance feeds us for a lifetime." Jesus came to teach us to live, not just keep us alive.

What a cautionary tale for one who leads a compassion-based ministry. I must never, personally or as a leader of a community of faith, give just bread. I must not seek just to meet immediate need. I have to share what is life-changing and not merely what is life-sustaining. Dependence on what God gives must always supercede the what's-in-it-for-me.mindset.

The Anointed One still calls His people to "preach good news to the poor." Let us learn from His choice in the wilderness how best to share.